Real World Watcher: Las Vegas Episode 5 “Playas Gettin’ Played”

Wow. Things got pretty intense towards the end of this week’s Real World: Las Vegas. Even though I’ve obviously seen the whole episode, I’m going to do my best to write as if I was watching it in real time, so the revelation towards the end hits honestly, instead of using that to paint the entire episode. So, if something I write about particular cast members seems harsh in light of the overall episode, I’d just point out that I’m trying to mimic the reality of both watching the show and basic human interactions. We judge one another all the time based on what we can see without knowing every aspect of a person’s life. Obviously, what we do and don’t know colors how we view someone, making us react differently to their actions. Anyway, I’m getting a little deeper than I intended to with this opening, but you’ll understand what I mean by the end I think. Hop on in. It’s not giving much away to say that most of this episode is about the Adam/Nany relationship. It kicks off with her waking up in his bed talking about how much she loves her life. If you’ll remember from the previous episode, she broke up with her boyfriend after sleeping with Adam. The action cuts between Adam on the phone with his girlfriend telling her not to go to a party and Nany talking to Naomi, saying that she just wants to be single and not necessarily tied to Adam. Nany doesn’t seem to mind that Adam has a girlfriend and then Adam hops on the phone with one of his buddies who’s going to visit soon and tells him he feels like a boss because he broke up a six year relationship. I really can’t read this kid. I have no idea whether he really likes Nany or if he just likes messing with her head and the the idea of having her over actually having her. He’s always saying these things to her about how crazy he is for her and how essentially romantic he is at heart, but then he goes and acts like a complete douche/slimeball and it’s nearly impossible to believe. I’ll give the Real World casting directors props for choosing another nearly impossible-to-read sociopath for this season of the show.

After a night at the club where Leroy and Naomi both bring people home with varying degrees of success, Nany says she wants what they have: a casual relationship that doesn’t preclude her or Adam from bringing someone else home. She then hops on the phone and gives that busboy Sean a call and sets up a date. At first I thought it was a one-on-one thing, but then she brings Heather and Naomi and he brings two of his friends. Sean seems like a pretty nice dude and even picks up the bill for everyone. Then things get a little jacked up. After being, ostensibly, on a date with another dude, Nany jumps into Adam’s bed and wants to sleep with him and doesn’t want to talk about their relationship.

From here we get a lot of talking between various combinations of roommates. That night, Dustin and Heather are talking about the couple of the moment. Heather doesn’t want to get involved, but thinks she’s be better off with Sean than a bad boy like Adam. Dustin says he thinks the whole thing is a powder keg waiting to blow. Then, Adam’s talking to Mike about how he feels like he got played and Mike–possibly the greatest Real World housemate of all time–points out that the player might be getting played (he even got the episode title!). After that the dudes plan on going down to the club without the girls, but before they bounce, Adam tells Nany they’re going to cuddle that night. But, while down in the club, Adam starts hitting on a girl–dude?–who doesn’t really seem to be buying into his bullshit, but winds up heading upstairs with him anyway (famewhore). Adam devises a plan that Leroy will say the girl is his, but that Adam will slip in and basically bang her in Leroy’s room/bed.

Adam thinks he’s pretty slick and starts trying to work his particular brand of magic on this girl, but she won’t even kiss him because she says he kisses everyone. He then walks out and asks Mike to get rid of her because she’s on his bed. To pull this off, Mike literally walks in, says something like “What are you doing on my bed?” but all cartoony like and then jumps on the bed. The girl walks around a little bit being awkward with Adam making matters worse by grabbing and hugging Nany right in front of her, but finally leaves. Nany doesn’t catch on until she gets in bed with Adam and he, for some reason, explains to her his plan. Now, this is after she just said she wants to be with him but also be able to bring dudes home and vice versa, but the reason she gets pissed and walks out of his bed is because they had talked about cuddling beforehand and she feels like she got played. Because she did. The whole thing’s stupid and I don’t personally believe in an emotionless hook up friend, but that’s just me. I’m a hopeless romantic that way, I guess.

Later that night, Adam’s talking to Leroy and Mike about getting Nany back and Mike says he doesn’t think it will be hard to get her back (have I said how much I love this kid?). The next day, Nany’s talking Leroy and Mike and says she feels played and is not happy that no one told her the previous night what was going on. Leroy quotes guy law, which is bullshit because he hates Adam. Meanwhile, Adam’s on the phone with his girlfriend demanding that she not go to a party and telling her that she has to email him before she can text any guys. This guy is a controlling psychopath. Thankfully, Heather’s around to hear his insanity. If nothing else, all of this will make for an incredibly interesting reunion episode. Later that day, they meet up with their internship coordinator who tells them they’ll be helping out with the Fetish And Fantasy Ball (you can Google that on your own, I ain’t linking to it).

We get a bit of a break from the Nany/Adam drama with a mild dose of Leroy/Naomi drama. He brings a chick back to the house, seemingly hits that and then Naomi gets in bed with him, but they don’t do anything. From Leroy’s perspective, she’s his eternal back-up if he’s not able to rustle anything up at the club. She doesn’t seem to mind that, but it seems like she’s getting less and less impressed with every heffer he brings back to the pad. She still says he’s hers whenever she wants him. These kids today…

Then we’re right back into it with Adam and Nany. She tells him she feels like she got played and that they should just be friends. He asks if he should keep trying to have sex with her (I’m not making this up, in fact, if I was, I wouldn’t think that would sound realistic whatsoever, the truth is stranger afterall) and she thankfully says no. It’s all over, then, right? Not by a longshot. Nany goes to Naomi and tells her she thinks Adam just says whatever he thinks will get him out of trouble, which is literally exactly what Adam just told the camera a few moments before.

After that it’s club time. Adam’s three buddies have come out for a visit and Nany’s all giddy when she sees Sean. They’re talking and hanging out and out of nowhere, she asks if he has a girlfriend and he says…yes, he does. She kind of flips out, starts crying and goes into the women’s room with Heather and Naomi. Heather’s trying to tell her that she’ll find the perfect guy for her, one who respects her, but none of it seems to take and the next second she’s dancing up on Adam again who looks like he just won the Champion of the World award. Over in the corner, Dustin’s talking to Heather, telling her that he thinks she should go over and see if Nany really wants to do what she’s about to do because it’s better to cry than to make a huge mistake. Surprisingly (to me at least), Heather does walk up to her right after she just told Adam she wants to go back to her bed (or his, I can’t quite remember) and ask Nany if this is really what she wants to do. Nany says “no” and walks away with Heather.

Of course, this sends Adam into a drunken tailspin. They play with the camera view and whatnot, then a bouncer comes over and tells him he needs to chillax. Adam doesn’t, maybe throws up a little bit and another bouncer comes over. Dustin tells him, he’s going to get Adam’s boys and take him back to the room, which they do. Once there, Adam decides it’s time to break and smash things. His friends literally pick him up and carry him to his bedroom. Then Nany gets back and decides it’s a good idea to get near him and tell him this isn’t her problem. She will not stop saying shit, essentially poking the bear. Adam’s starts losing it and punches a picture/the wall right next to her face. Dustin keeps trying to get her away from the situation and, after she freaks out, actually picks her up and carries her into another area, his main concern being that he doesn’t want drunk Adam to punch her. That’s when the bomb gets dropped: Nany says she’s been hit by dudes before. It lands like a brick in everyone’s stomach (everyone being Heather, Naomi and Dustin, who’s sickened by the whole thing). She keeps talking about how strong she is and that she can take it, but starts crying and Dustin hugs her. It’s a really sad moment, that gets even worse later when she tells Naomi and Heather that she doesn’t want to talk about any of this stuff the next day.

The episode ends with Leroy coming home and getting pissed that Adam caused so much destruction. He obviously doesn’t know about any of the revelations or the realness that was discussed. He’s just angry that Adam seems to get a free pass because he had a rough upbringing. We then get a peek at the next episode where it looks like Leroy has a tantrum himself. It seems to me like they have grounds to get rid of Adam, but who knows? I hope Nany decides to talk about whatever she’s gone through in her past–she did a PSA at the end of the episode that makes me thinks she eventually does. It might sound corny, but this is the kind of stuff The Real World should be about. Sure, any group of kids in a strange place are going to drink, have fun and make mistakes, but it’s the parts where real people talk about their situations that make this whole thing worthwhile. It’s what you don’t get on a lot of reality shows based on peoples’ perception of themselves. It’s horrible that these things happen to people, but they do happen and they should be discussed to get rid of whatever stigmas might surround them. That’s my two cents at least.